The New Year started off with a record snow for Wichita! Our latest Drought Monitor that was updated today shows improvements to the dry conditions in portions of south central and southeastern Kansas due to that powerful storm.
Our weather pattern has remained active since that time. Our next noteworthy storm system will skirt our region to the west/southwest this weekend. This will provide western Kansas with the possibility of light snow Saturday into Sunday morning.
Accumulating snow looks likely for our southwest counties with an uptick in snowfall potential near the Kansas/Oklahoma state line into the Panhandle. While the moisture favors that way, the remainder of our viewing area will be stuck in the clouds for the weekend.
For the next couple of weeks or so, temperatures will be near, if not, above average for this time of year.
Going into next week, I see a drop in storm systems. It looks like sunshine will be prevalent as temperatures start the recovery process after the typical January chill we had this week. Most of the region should see below average conditions when it comes to moisture for the next 8 to 14 days.
We still have a long way to go to improve the drought throughout the Central High Plains. When you look at our chances for snow going forward, we can still get healthy snows in February and into March.
While our weather pattern looks to calm down over the next week, it will persist in an active state. While moisture will not be uniform across the area going forward, getting out of this drought shows no signs of being overcome yet.
–Chief Meteorologist Lisa Teachman
